All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage Book

I became familiar with Armand Mauss and his work in college and law school as I discovered Sunstone and Dialogue. A few years later I met his brother, Gordon, who was serving as Mission President of the Rochester, NY mission. Gordon occasionally shared insights and articles with me. When Armand came to Rochester to visit his brother, I met him in person and asked him to speak at a fireside in our ward when I was serving as Bishop. It was unforgettable. Armand was one of those individuals that was faithful in every way but did not wear rose colored glasses that tinted the flaws. He was not a harsh chest thumping critic either. He saw the good in the Church and worked to improve doctrinal and cultural challenges.

In "All of Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage", Mauss examines the extensive historical record through a sociological lens. Indeed, the history more complicated, contradictory, and even conflicted than most LDS would imagine. Mauss's recounting of the history is both insightful and unsettling. Mauss describes how early Church members adopted the racist thinking common in 19th century America which then was incorporated it into Mormon folklore to explain the ancestry of various groups. The thinking consisted of three elements: British Israelism (the notion among the British that they were part of the House of Israel), Anglo-Saxon triumphalism, and LDS understanding of premortal life. Church leaders' views have not remained static, however.

Mauss argues, the change was a consequence of Mormon missionaries and membership to increasingly diverse parts of the world" Mauss provides an excellent summary of the contorted and erratic federal policies toward Native Americans and outreach efforts by the Church to Native peoples led by President Spencer W. Kimball's interest in the welfare of Native Americans. As LDS missionaries experienced increased success in Mesoamerica and South America, Mauss explains, the Church's efforts to help the descendants of the Book of Mormon peoples shifted away from American Indians to these other populations. Mauss does a tremendous job explaining the identity conflict of Native Americans and Mesoamerican native people experience in the Church. Many members of the Church fail to understand how strong the bonds to native communities are.

Mauss presents the history of the relationship between the LDS Church and the Jews. He described a short lived proselyting program aimed at American Jews in the 60's and 70's. I was well aware of this program having served as a missionary in NYC in the waning days of that effort that ultimately was abandoned. He presents evidence, his own research dating back to the 1960s, that anti-Semitism has always been lower in the LDS Church than in the general population.

Mauss then turns to the complicated and painful Church history of the relationship with blacks. He details some of the events and thinking that ultimately led to the priesthood revelation in June 1978. He does an outstanding job in summarizing how Black American members deal with conflicted identities and the anguish that some experience when offended by others within the Church. Mauss acknowledges how the general Church leadership modified their views post 1978. He quotes McConkie's in a talk he gave shortly after the announcement: "There are statements in our literature by the early brethren that we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same thing. . .. It is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed. . .. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whosoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that has now come into the world."

Mauss is optimistic about the future of race relations in the Church. He genuinely applauds President Gordon B. Hinckley's outreach to minorities and public statements decrying racism.

All Abraham's Children is a book that needs to read widely by church members and leaders. The book is an excellent testament to the compassion, integrity, balance, and enduring legacy of one of Mormonism's best social scientists.